Secrets
by Emily Elizabeth
Summary: NS At Sara's baby shower, Grissom reveals a secret that will change their lives forever.


Title: Secrets  
  
Rating: PG, to be safe  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own CSI or its characters. Get over it.  
  
Author's Note: Thank you to everyone who reviewed Made For Each Other. You guys rock.  
  
~*~*~  
  
Sara waddled into the family room and slowly set herself down on the brown leather sofa, leaning into Nick, who tried to suppress a laugh at his wife's uncomfortable expression. She turned her head and shot him her infamous glare.  
  
"Unless you have a death wish I would stop laughing at the pregnant woman," she said icily, "You're the reason I'm lardo the human blimp, anyway."  
  
"But you make such a lovely blimp," he teased. His grin fell when she narrowed her eyes at him.  
  
"Watch it, Mr. Stokes, or you're sleeping on the couch tonight," she warned.  
  
"I'm sorry, honey," he said sincerely, "I think you look gorgeous." He brushed his lips against hers in a soft kiss, and when they parted she smiled up at him.  
  
"I can't wait till this baby comes and I can wear my regular clothes again. These maternity shirts are so ugly," she complained with a sigh, snuggling into Nick's warm embrace.  
  
He absently ran his fingers up and down her arm. "I can't wait till this baby comes, period," he said softly.  
  
They had been secretly seeing each other for about six months when Nick proposed and they were forced to confess to the team that they had been dating. Five months later they were married in a beautiful ceremony at the church where Nick's parents had been wed. They bought a gorgeous house with a huge backyard and built-in pool, and it seemed like they had just settled in when two months later Sara announced that she was pregnant. Now Sara was in her eighth month of pregnancy, and everyone was anxious for the arrival of Baby Stokes.  
  
Sara stretched her legs out so she was sprawled over the length of the sofa, her head resting in Nick's lap. "I was thinking," she began, tilting her head up to look at her husband, "I want Grissom and Catherine to be the godparents."  
  
Nick smiled down at his wife. "I was thinking the same thing."  
  
"Do you want to ask them when they come over for my shower thing tomorrow?" she asked with a smile.  
  
Nick's eyes widened. "That's supposed to be a surprise!" he exclaimed, "How did you know?"  
  
"For one thing, just because I'm on maternity leave doesn't mean my observation skills have diminished. I can tell when something is up." Nick eyed her suspiciously. "Plus the fact that you never erased Cath's message," she said with an innocent shrug.  
  
Nick laughed. "Well, then at least try and look surprised when they come over, okay?"  
  
"Don't worry;" she said with a smile. "Ooh!"  
  
"What?" Nick asked, concern spreading across his features.  
  
"Nothing, the baby just kicked," she smiled. She took his hand and placed it on her bulging stomach, and watched his face light up as he felt his baby kicking.  
  
Every time the baby kicked he loved to feel it, to feel the life he had created. He knew it would only be a matter of weeks before he could hold his son or daughter in his arms.  
  
~*~*~  
  
Sara was laying on the sofa, covered with a fleece throw, the latest John Grisham novel in her hands. She looked up from her book at the sound of the doorbell. She placed a bookmark in the book and threw it on the sofa, along with the blanket, and slowly made her way to the door.  
  
"Oh my God!" she exclaimed happily, "What a surprise!" Catherine, Grissom, Warrick, and Greg were standing on the doorstep, balloons and gifts in hand.  
  
"We couldn't let you have a baby without a proper baby shower, could we?" Catherine teased, "Even though technically men aren't supposed to be at showers," she said, pointing at the three men behind her.  
  
Nick poked his head in from the kitchen. "Hey guys," he called, walking into the room with a tray of drinks.  
  
"Hey, Mr. Domestication," Warrick teased with a smirk.  
  
"What? No apron?" Greg added, plopping down on the brown recliner.  
  
"Very funny, guys," Nick said, placing the tray on the coffee table and settling down onto the sofa next to Sara.  
  
"Do I get to open presents now?" Sara asked.  
  
"A little eager?" Warrick asked.  
  
"Technically they're not for me, so it's okay," Sara explained with a smile as Catherine handed her a large gift bag. Inside were five adorable outfits, all yellow and green, with the exception of one red. She opened the rest of the gifts and was thrilled to receive a baby bath, a car seat, three pairs of pajamas, two packages of onezies, and a hundred dollar gift certificate to Babies R Us(. "To get a crib," Catherine explained. But her favorite gift was a beautiful handmade quilt with the sun, moon, and stars as a theme from Warrick.  
  
"My Gram made it for you guys when I told her two of my best friends were having a baby," Warrick said with a smile.  
  
"Tell her we love it," Sara said, carefully folding the beautiful quilt and placing it on the arm of the couch. "Does anybody want anything to eat? I think we have some chips and dip in the kitchen." Nick rose to get it, but Sara waved him back down. "I'll get it, Nicky." She stood and slowly made her way across the hall and through the doorway into the kitchen. She reached into the fridge and grabbed the container of sour cream and onion dip and was reaching in the back of the pantry for a bag of Ruffles potato chips when she heard footsteps in the kitchen.  
  
She turned her head and smiled. "Hey, Griss."  
  
"Do you need a hand?" he asked.  
  
"No thanks, but while we're alone, there's something I want to ask you," Sara said, finding the large bag of chips and setting it on the counter. "You know that you've always been like a father to me." Grissom cringed at her words. "And Nick and I agree that we want you to be this baby's godfather," she said with a smile. Her smile fell when she saw Grissom's expression. "What's wrong?"  
  
"Sara, I can't be the godfather." Sara looked at him curiously.  
  
"Why not?" Grissom didn't answer, but instead pulled a small wrapped box out from his jacket.  
  
"There's something I've been meaning to tell you, but I was waiting for the right moment. I know this might not be the right moment, but if I don't tell you now I may lose my nerve." He paused. "This is for the baby. I wanted to give it to you in private. It's.it's from the baby's grandfather."  
  
Sara looked at him in shock and sat down on one of the hard kitchen chairs. "I don't understand," she said slowly.  
  
"Sara, I'm your father." She stared at him in disbelief.  
  
"No, no you're not. You're not. My father is Ted Sidle, he lives at 344 Millford Place in Tamales Bay. He's my father; you are not my father," she insisted, tears beginning to stream down her cheeks.  
  
"Sara, I know that this is unexpected, but."  
  
"You have to leave," she said softly, the tears leaving trails on her cheeks as they continued to slide down. "You have to leave right now. NOW. I'm not feeling well, and you have to leave right now."  
  
"Sara." Grissom pleaded.  
  
"NOW! LEAVE NOW" she screamed, the tears coming full force. Nick rushed into the kitchen and pulled Sara into his arms.  
  
"What's going on?" he questioned, holding his sobbing wife tightly.  
  
"Make him leave, Nick. Make him leave. Make them all leave," she sobbed.  
  
"Grissom, I think you'd better go," Nick said sternly, not knowing what his boss did to upset his wife so much, but knowing he hated seeing her like this.  
  
Grissom nodded. "Sara.I'm sorry." He turned and left the room, glancing back to see Nick trying to calm a sobbing Sara and the small box still left on the counter.  
  
~*~*~  
  
"I was thinking about Joshua if it's a boy," Sara said, lying in their king sized bed and flipping through the baby name book.  
  
"Sara, you can't do this to yourself," Nick said, sitting down on the side of the bed, "You have to talk to Grissom. You can't just bury yourself in baby preparations."  
  
Sara snapped the book closed and threw it on the bed. "There's nothing to talk about."  
  
"Sara, if he's your father then you have plenty to talk about. I know that it's weird and unexpected, but you have to face the facts. He wouldn't say he was your father if he wasn't."  
  
"Well if he's my father, then why wait till now to tell me? Why tell me at all?" she snapped, blinking back the tears stinging her eyes.  
  
"I can't answer that, honey," Nick said, kissing her forehead and rising, "You have to ask him." With that he turned and headed for the door, pausing to toss her the cordless phone.  
  
Sara stared at the black phone in her hand and knew she had a call to make.  
  
~*~*~  
  
Grissom heard the telephone ringing and absently grabbed it off its hook.  
  
"Grissom," he said tiredly, rubbing his temple with his fingers.  
  
"Why?"  
  
He instantly recognized Sara's voice and sat down. "Why what?"  
  
"Why everything. Why didn't you want me? I talked to my parents last night and they told me that they adopted me from a teenage girl. They said they met her but they never met the father, because he didn't want anything to do with the baby. Why would you leave her like that? Why didn't you tell me? You had to have known for a while. Why now? Why?" Sara choked, the tears silently falling down her cheeks.  
  
"Sara, I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry. But let me start at the beginning. I met Anne, your mother, in high school. We went out for about a year, and I really loved her. One day we went to her friend's party, and one thing led to another.and."  
  
"No need to paint me a picture. I get it," Sara interrupted, "So why didn't you want me?"  
  
"I didn't know. Anne left about a month after that to stay with her aunt in California. Her parents refused to tell me why she left or where she was. She came back nine months later and didn't want to see me. Whenever I went to her house she wouldn't talk to me, and about three weeks later she threw herself off a bridge. It wasn't until then I found out about the baby," Grissom said quietly.  
  
There was silence on the other end of the line so Grissom continued. "I could never find out where you were, and I tried to put it behind me, but I couldn't. I couldn't stop wondering who you were, what kind of a family you were with. What you looked like. Then you walked into my classroom that day." He paused. "You look just like your mother, you know. Mirror image." He seemed lost in the memories, and Sara interrupted him.  
  
"Then what?" She questioned softly.  
  
"I hired a private investigator, just to be sure, and he confirmed it. You were my daughter. I didn't tell you because.I don't know why. I guess I was scared. You had grown up to be a beautiful woman with a great future. And when I needed someone to investigate Warrick, I couldn't think of anyone more qualified than my daughter. I never told you then because I was afraid of losing you. I didn't want you to leave me when I finally was just beginning to really get to know you."  
  
Sara twisted the wedding band on her finger. "Why now?" she whispered.  
  
"I missed your childhood; I didn't want to miss my grandchild's," Grissom confessed, "I'm so sorry, Sara."  
  
"You should have told me as soon as you were sure," Sara said quietly, "I had a right to know."  
  
"I know, honey. I'm so sorry," he repeated.  
  
"But I forgive you. It's not your fault," Sara said. She paused before speaking again. "What was in the box?"  
  
"A pendent of your mother's. I gave it to her right before she left, and the private investigator I hired returned it to me when he finished his investigation. Anne's mother found it when she was going through her things, and when he came to ask her some questions she gave it to him. I've had it ever since. But I thought your child should have it. Anne wanted you to have it, so I'm sure she would want your baby to have it," Grissom said, smiling softly on his end of the line.  
  
"Thank you," Sara said. She paused again. "What.what was Anne like?"  
  
"Oh, Sara, she was beautiful. She looked just like you, and was just as stubborn.."  
  
~*~*~  
  
"Maddison Anne, for the tenth time: don't do that! It's slippery!" Sara called as her daughter ran across the lawn, but she was two late. The little girl slipped and fell, and stood completely covered in mud, grinning wildly.  
  
"Jeez," Sara said, rising from her seat on the patio to retrieve her daughter.  
  
"I'll get her," Grissom offered, walking across the lawn and scooping his four-year-old granddaughter in his arms, "Come on, birthday girl." Maddison giggled and wriggled free of her grandfather's arms, preferring to walk next him. She took his hand and led him up to the table, where she had abandoned her birthday cake minutes before.  
  
"Grandpa? Can I open presents?" she begged with a smile.  
  
"Ask your mother," Grissom said.  
  
The little girl bounded up to Sara, her grandmother's pendant bouncing on its thin gold chain. "Can I, mommy?"  
  
"Daddy's bringing them out now," Sara answered, placing a hand on her bulging stomach. "You're brother's kicking, Maddison. Do you want to feel it?" The four-year-old nodded with a grin and placed her hand on her mother's stomach.  
  
"Hey, Joshua. It's my birthday!" She planted a kiss on Sara's stomach and Grissom laughed. A moment later Nick came out, bearing a handful of presents.  
  
Nick set them on the table and sat down, bringing his daughter onto his lap. "Okay, Miss Maddie. Which one first?" Nick asked.  
  
"This one," Maddison said, pointing to a large box with a bow. Nick grabbed it and handed it to his daughter, who tore into the paper, throwing the card onto the table.  
  
"You have to read the cards, first, sweetie," Grissom said, taking the white envelope and opening it. "This one's from Catherine."  
  
"Mommy, why couldn't Aunt Catherine and Lindsey and everyone come?" Maddison inquired, looking at her mother with curious eyes.  
  
"They're coming to your party next week, honey," Sara said, looking at Grissom, "This one's just for family."  
  
~*~*~  
  
A/N~ Please review and tell me what you think!!  
  
~Emily 


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